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Geoffrey Tennant
Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) is the artistic director of the New Burbage Theatre Festival. He took over as Interim Artistic Director after the death of Oliver Welles before stepping into a permanent position at the start of Season Two. Over the course of the show he directs productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. Before the Show Geoffrey was inspired to become an actor when he saw Charles Kingman as Falstaff in Henry IV ''when he was eleven. His father, with whom it is implied he did not have a good relationship, took him to see the play, and it moved them both to tears. Geoffrey attended university with Darren Nichols, where they were friendly for a brief period, during which time they performed together in ''Godspell. ''However, this didn't last long as at some point Geoffrey stormed the stage of a production of ''The Tempest which Darren directed, and duelled Darren in the quad at midnight. When Geoffrey was an actor at the New Burbage Festival, he played Romeo, Mark Antony, Prince Hal (Henry V), and Hamlet, likely among other roles. He often worked under the direction of Oliver Welles, who pushed him hard as an actor, and acted opposite Ellen Fanshaw, with whom he had a romantic relationship. He also formed friendships with Anna Conroy and May Silverstone. During the third performance of a 1996 production of Hamlet, directed by Oliver, Geoffrey had a mental breakdown onstage during Ophelia's funeral in act V, scene i. Oliver put a great deal of pressure on Geoffrey as a part of his direction, and eventually pushed Geoffrey over the edge when he slept with Ellen. Ellen told Geoffrey about it, and when Geoffrey saw her watching the funeral scene from the wings, he snapped and jumped into the grave. He was eventually arrested later that night when he tried to throttle a swan. After his breakdown, Geoffrey spent an indeterminate amount of time in a mental institution before starting Theatre Sans Argent in Toronto. For 11 years of his childhood, Geoffrey had a pet jack russell terrier named Ruffles. During the Show Season One In the first episode, Geoffrey is in the process of staging The Tempest, when he loses his theatre because he is unable to pay the rent. That night, he gets several calls from a drunk Oliver Welles, who saw him on the news, and whom Geoffrey hangs up on several times. After the final call, Oliver stumbles out of the phone booth and is run over by a pig truck. After being informed of Oliver's death, he goes to New Burbage for the funeral. While he's there, Anna Conroy tells Geoffrey about Oliver's request to have his skull used in future productions of Hamlet, and Geoffrey tells her he'll take care of it. After the funeral, he reluctantly accepts the position of Interim Artistic Director at the request of board member May Silverstone. Because of his past experience with the play, Geoffrey at first refuses to direct Oliver's Hamlet, but eventually steps up because of his frustration with Darren Nichols and due to the goading of Oliver's ghost. While directing the play, Geoffrey struggles with Jack Crew (Hamlet), Claire Donner (Ophelia), and Ellen Fanshaw (Gertrude)-- not to mention Oliver's consistent pestering. Jack only rehearses with paraphrased versions of his lines, and Claire is an unconvincing actress who is unable to follow his direction. Ellen doesn't emotionally engage with rehearsals partially because of Jack's actions, but also because of her personal history with Geoffrey. Eventually the play starts to come together. Oliver causes Claire to break her leg so she can be replaced by Kate McNab, and Geoffrey talks Jack about the "To be or not to be" speech, which helps Jack solidify his performance of Hamlet. However, just as things are looking up, Richard Smith-Jones takes away the plays previews, and sabotages Jack just before the premiere by imply Geoffrey just views him as something to move tickets. Jack doesn't show up the day of opening, and while waiting for him to arrive, Geoffrey and Ellen have a discussion about what happened the night of his breakdown, and the two of them patch things up. While riding in a swan boat on the river, Geoffrey and Ellen find Jack with Kate in the park. The four of them go back to the theatre and Geoffrey tells Jack to see the play as six soliloquies in order to make it seem less daunting. The opening is a huge success and that night, after the cast party, Geoffrey and Ellen scatter Oliver's ashes in the river. Season Two The season starts with Geoffrey giving notes to the cast during the final performance of Hamlet. He runs into Moira, an audience member who seems to have some history with the festival, and she expresses interest in seeing Geoffrey's Macbeth. Geoffrey tells her he's not doing Macbeth, saying it's very difficult to stage effectively. However, Richard tells him that Henry Breedlove, a well-known actor, is finally available for the next season. At the wrap party Ellen tells Geoffrey that she's broken up with her young boyfriend, Sloane, after he proposed to her, and Geoffrey goes to announce the season, including Macbeth. Afterwards, Geoffrey and Ellen go back to Ellen's house together. Several months later, Christmas approaches, at Geoffrey is struggling with Macbeth. While he procrastinates, Anna comes in with many boxes of Oliver's notes on the play. Geoffrey is reluctant to look through them, but after Anna finds a marquette for the set design, showing a thrust, and that inspires Geoffrey to start looking through them. Unfortunately, this opens up an opportunity for Oliver's ghost-- absent since the opening of Hamlet-- to return. Geoffrey starts spending more time at the theatre, working with Oliver on the play, which starts to concern Ellen, and strains their relationship. Geoffrey also butts heads with Henry, who is used to playing Macbeth the same way as he has for his past three turns as the Scotsman, and doesn't take new suggestions well. Ellen gets along with Henry and confides in him regarding her concerns about Geoffrey. She and Geoffrey break up and Geoffrey moves into the theatre's storeroom. The production continues to prove challenging, and Geoffrey struggles with Oliver's plans for the play and Henry lack of flexibility. He gets a fortunate reprieve when actors from Darren Nichol's production of Romeo and Juliet ask for his help with their scenes, but rehearsals for Macbeth are still a struggle. After the first preview, Geoffrey fires Henry because he won't listen to his direction. Geoffrey puts Jerry, Henry's understudy, on as Macbeth, and despite not knowing all the lines he does a good job. However, he's not really the right person for the job and Ellen talks Geoffrey into asking Henry back. Henry insists on doing things his way, and agrees to return, and Bryan-- an actor Geoffrey denied a part in this season-- tells Geoffrey he can't let Henry ruin the play. Before the opening, Geoffrey comes to work in a suit and convinces Darren to reconcieve his production of Romeo and Juliet by pretending to be seriously depressed. He talks to Maria and convinces her to let him meet with the cast without Henry and Ellen, but unfortunately Ellen finds out about the plan and tries to tell Henry. Geoffrey has Nahum the janitor lock her in her dressing room. For the opening, Geoffrey changes all of Henry's entrances and gets the rest of the cast to force him into doing new things. After the show, Geoffrey tells Oliver he doesn't want to work with him anymore. At the opening of Romeo and Juliet, a sponsor of the festival gives a heartfelt speech about his wife and their history with the play. Both affected by this speech, Geoffrey and Ellen watch the play from the wings and the two of them make up. At the bar that night, they run into Sloane who is incredibly indignant that they're not together still, and the two of them go home together. Season Three Geoffrey is expected to give a speech at a presentation about the history of the festival, but when he tries to talk he starts weeping uncontrollably. The success of Macbeth, now finishing a run on Broadway, has led to a lot of press attention that Richard loves but Geoffrey's uncomfortable with. He's only interested in directing King Lear, but having some difficulty with actually casting the part of Lear. The stress from the play is spreading into his personal life, as in addition to weeping when he tries to speak in front of groups, he's also struggling with erectile dysfunction. Eventually Geoffrey decides to cast Charles Kingman, an aging actor who inspired Geoffrey when he was younger. Ellen's friend Barbara comes to stay with her and Geoffrey while she's in town for the play, much to Geoffrey's chagrin, and rehearsals start for Lear. Even though Charles is incredibly rude to the other actors, Geoffrey is reluctant to say anything to him. He starts attending therapy offered by a priest, and during his first session Oliver reappears, claiming he's in purgatory and can't pass on. Ellen asks Geoffrey to talk to Charles, and when he does Charles reveals that he has cancer which leads Oliver to reluctantly agreeing to help with the play. Geoffrey continues to attend therapy, accompanied by Oliver, where he discusses the difficulty of separating the theatre from his personal life. In rehearsals, Charles continues to bully the rest of the cast, and when rehearsing the storm he starts to have lapses in memory. The lapses get worse until he walks off the stage after Sophie (Cordelia) snaps back at him for his latest outburst. Geoffrey tries to explain Charles' behaviour to the rest of the cast by telling them Charles is an alcoholic. Meanwhile, Barbara's presence in their home on top of everything else starts to strain Geoffrey and Ellen's relationship and Geoffrey moves out and into Charles' apartment. His first night there he helps Charles shoot up with heroine. During previews, Charles can hardly make it through the play and has to stop in the middle of the storm. Backstage, Geoffrey shoots him up again so he can finish the play. Unfortunately, Charles doesn't show up for the opening and no one can get in touch him so Geoffrey cancels and goes home to find Charles has fallen in the bathtub and is unable to get up. Anna, who recognizes Charles' behaviour, offers to help by managing his medication. Because of the cancelled opening and because Barbara told him Charles was an alcoholic, Richard moves Lear to the smaller studio stage, replacing it with East Hastings, a highly successful musical directed by Darren Nichols. Geoffrey breaks the news to the cast about the change of venue, and the smaller space seems like it might be better at first since Charles doesn't have to work as hard. Unfortunately, Charles is still unstable and assaults Ellen while rehearsing a scene. Ellen quits and signs a contract for a television show, but Geoffrey convinces her to stay a while longer by telling her that Charles has cancer and wants to play Lear before he dies. On the night of the rescheduled opening, Charles is once again unable to go on and Geoffrey cancels for a second time. Richard confronts him about Charles, and Geoffrey tells him about his cancer. King Lear is cancelled and the insurance company finds the claim the festival makes valid on the condition that Geoffrey step down. Geoffrey breaks the news to the cast and goes to visit Charles in the hospital. He finds that Charles has had a brief remission and the two go bowling. While they bowl, Charles says that he still wants to do Lear, and Geoffrey points out that they have no theatre and no cast, but reluctantly agrees to try to make it happen. He talks to Maria, who manages to get the whole cast except for Barbara and Ellen. Geoffrey goes to where Ellen is filming her tv show and talks her into coming back. She agrees to call Barbra. Geoffrey's therapist lest them use part of the church for their one-time performance, and everything starts to come together until it turns out that Jerry, who was playing Kent, can't go on because of an injury. Geoffrey scrambles to find someone else to do it, but they have no understudies so Ellen tells him that he has to. Geoffrey, who hasn't performed onstage since Hamlet in 1996, is terrified. He's unable to speak at first, but Oliver appears to him and talks him through it, and from there the play goes smoothly. After the play, Geoffrey and Ellen get engaged and the season ends with them getting married and planning to move to Montreal.Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Season One Category:Season Two Category:Season Three